Welcome to the second installment of Glove Pop’s Mock Draft Strategy series. Last week’s no outfield strategy resulted in a stellar rotation but a risky offence projected to finish dead-last in steals. This week’s experiment is only a strategy insofar as you could call “only pick players whose names start with J” a strategy. It’s a fun idea that I’m shamelessly stealing from David Kristoph, who last year chronicled the adventures of the M as in Mancy’s (an all M team).

I’m planning on rolling it out in my amateur hometown Yahoo re-draft league this season, and will be trying out different letters to see what works. First up was J.

1st Round: 2B – Jose Altuve

The most important part of this strategy is making sure you get a top 2 pick to give you a decent chance at landing Jose Altuve, the greatest J in the game. As we’ll see, having the #2 pick forced me to reach on several key J dudes because I couldn’t risk having them taken in the 18 intervening picks.

2nd Round: OF – J.D. Martinez

I considered taking Jose Ramirez here, but a quick peek at my J rankings dissuaded me. The outfield is not a kind place for J drafters. After Martinez and Justin Upton, it gets grim.

3rd Round: 3B – Josh Donaldson

I’ll take Donaldson in the third round any day. I’m not sure if it’s the advancing age, the 1st-half health issues, the crumbling Jays’ offence or what, but the Bringer of Rain is being criminally under-drafted in my opinion. I was tempted by Jacob DeGrom, but snagging JD at pick #26 is a no-brainer.

4th Round: SP – James Paxton

I was happy to grab Paxton as my staff ace as I had him as the last J in my top starting pitcher tier (after deGrom and Justin Verlander). I usually prefer to go with stability over upside with my staff ace, but I addressed that when rounding out my rotation.

5th Round: SS – Jean Segura 

After outfield, shortstop is the most inhospitable position for the J drafter. While the 5th round is undoubtedly a huge reach for Segura, I was motivated by three factors: (1) he was the #1 SS in my J rankings (go on, try to find a better J shortstop), (2) the drop-off after Segura is steep (Javy Baez, Jose Peraza, Jorge Polanco, JP Crawford are the best viable alternatives), and (3) I knew I had to be proactive about getting speed. With Altuve and Segura I figure I’ve got a good chance of holding my own on steals in an H2H format.

6th Round: SP – Jose Quintana

Sweet, sweet security. Last year marked the first time in five seasons he failed to reach 200 IP, but he offset that with a career-high 9.87 K/9 over 188 IP. At 29 years old I don’t see any reason not to project him to eclipse 200 innings once again (although ZiPs and Steamer have him in the 180-190 range).

7th Round: SP – Jake Arrieta

I have serious concerns about the vanishing strikeouts and definitely could’ve waited another round to grab him but this was the point in the draft where the J players started thinning out. Jake Lamb was the only other guy in remotely in the ADP range here.

8th Round: 1B – Justin Smoak

If I miss out on Joey Votto, Justin Smoak is always Plan B for my starting first baseman. He won’t top 38 home runs, but the breakout is real. Having watched most of his plate appearances since he became a Blue Jay, I was struck by his consistent approach that led to a massive drop in his K rate. Steamer is projecting .249/.337/.475 with 30 HR, which is comparable to Eric Hosmer with a bit less average and more power.

9th Round: C – JT Realmuto

I wasn’t waiting around for Jonathan Lucroy, James McCann or Jorge Alfaro.

10th Round: OF – Jay Bruce

Bruce blasted a career-high 36 homers, but he’s back in Citi Field which dampens lefty home runs by 6% relative to Progressive Field. He’s somehow only 30 (??) so I’m not worried about age-related decline, but I wouldn’t draft him if I had a choice.

11th Round: SP – Jon Gray

2018 will be the year Gray begins his legacy as the greatest Rockies pitcher ever, usurping…Ubaldo Jimenez? I was targeting either Jose Berrios or Jeff Samardzija in this range but both got taken a few picks before me. The risk is high with the Coors effect, but I’m better Gray strikes out more than either of those guys.

12th Round: OF – Jackie Bradley Jr.

This mock was completed before J.D. Martinez signed with the Red Sox and buried JBJ in the outfield depth chart. Jon Morosi has reported that the Sox are set on keeping Bradley around for “offensive depth”, by which I think he meant defensive depth? In any event I would steer clear of Bradley as I doubt he reaches 200 PA barring a trade or injury. With the benefit of hindsight I would’ve picked Joey Gallo a few rounds earlier and avoided Bradley.

13th Round: SP – Jacob Faria

I’m excited to see what Faria can do in a full season. The walks will catch up to him, but his change up is incredibly polished for a 24-year-old, and once Chris Archer is inevitably traded you could make the case that Faria is the Rays’ staff ace.

14th Round: 1B – Justin Bour

I have a feeling Bour will hit 40 dingers but struggle to crack 100 RBI in the putrid 2018 Marlins lineup. Wrist injuries are scary, but he turned in a strong September (.854 OPS) after returning from the DL so I’m not too worried.

15th Round: IF – Jonathan Villar

At this point I had to get creative. Do I want Villar on my team? Not really. But if he manages to get regular playing time in Milwuakee he’ll be a crucial source of J stolen bases.

16th Round: 1B/OF – Jose Martinez

I’ve been grabbing Martinez as a late round flier in many mocks, and his OF eligibility could be huge for a J squad if he plays up to last year’s small sample size breakout.

17th Round: RP – Joe Musgrove

Missed out on Jeurys Familia as my RP1 but that’s probably a good thing. I like Musgrove’s chances to turn into something useful this season. With the Gerrit Cole signing it’s unlikely he gets a permanent rotation spot but the Astros are known for limiting starters innings by using guys like Musgrove and Brad Peacock. I could also see the wheels fall off for Kenneth Giles again, giving him a chance at some saves. Worst case scenario he’s a lights out middle reliever.

18th Round: OF – Joc Pederson

Outfield depth that could be a sneaky source of 30 HR power in 2018. More likely outcome is waiver wire.

19th Round: IF – Jedd Gyorko

Always good to have on your squad for flexibility.

20th Round: RP – Josh Hader

Stuck behind Knebel and Swarzak in the depth but I love the stuff. I could see Juan Nicasio emerging as the new closer in St. Louis, but I’d rather go for talent than title on a final round RP gamble.

The Squad

C – JR Realmuto

1B – Justin Smoak

2B – Jose Altuve

3B – Josh Donaldson

SS – Jean Segura

OF – JD Martinez

OF – Jay Bruce

OF – Jackie Bradley Jr/Jose Martinez/Joc Pederson

Util – Justin Bour

BN – Jonathan Villar

BN – Jedd Gyorko

SP – James Paxton

SP – Jose Quintana

SP – Jake Arrieta

SP – Jon Gray

SP – Jacob Faria

RP – Joe Musgrove

RP – Josh Hader

The Verdict: A-

The greatest part of this experiment was creating custom positional “J” rankings from scratch. Highly recommended if you have time to waste! I could see this squad staying competitive, but the real fun would be in-season management. Hopefully my league mates won’t realize the incredible alphabetic leverage they have over me in trades. I anticipate the best strategy would be to proactively stash J prospects with mid-season impacts such as Justus Sheffield, Jack Flaherty, Jorge Mateo, JP Crawford, Jorge Alfaro, and Jesse Winker in order to be able to trade away some name-brand J’s for other J’s. As for the draft, the only thing I would change would be locking down Justin Upton in the early rounds.